New Plan

What do I need to do next?
- Reshoot lip syncing shots
- Shoot more lip syncing shots 0:51, 1:29, 2:17, 2:28, 2:57, 3:13, 3:27
- Reshoot shots of nature - original shots are too dull and dark

Dates
28/02 - lip syncing/footage of singer
By filming my actress before I film the footage of nature, I'll be able to edit these promptly and make sure they're suitable to use in my final piece. If unfortunately they aren't at a suitable standard, I can arrange another filming session early before the deadline in order to allow myself enough time to edit and complete it.
06/02 - shots of nature
I have chosen to shoot these shots on this day as I'm definitely free, however if I become free on an earlier date I'll shoot them before. As I don't need anyone to help me shoot these I'm less worried about when to gain these shots as I can get them whenever I'm available and have access to equipment. However, these shots need to be taken on a sunny day, as my specific intention is to gain brighter and more enticing shots.
13/02 - draft of media evaluation & final edits to practical work

Feedback continued

Feedback

I thought it would be a good idea to go through my music video and annotate print screens of the changes I need to make rather than listing them. This will be beneficial for me as I will be able to directly refer to the specific points within the music video I need to address.

Music Video - First Draft

Having completed the first draft of my music video, I feel as though my music video is beginnning to look more like a music video rather than a random sequence of shots; the use of lip syncing has really improved my video, as it now has more depth and is much easier to understand. Whilst I am quite pleased with the outcome of my first draft, there is still room for improvement. Having analysed the content and made my own assumptions of what needs improving, I've gained feedback from my teacher and a few peers in order to improve the final draft.

My initial thoughts:

• More lip syncing shots
• More close ups of nature, possibly contrast shots of autumn nature with spring/summer nature
• Lighting - some shots are darker than others
• Minor continuity error - actress is wearing different shorts in some shots

Feedback

• Style fits with the song
• Use more shots of horses or remove them altogether 
• More shots at the bridge
• Clearly presents an abstract style 
• Shot as actress comes from below the branches is nice 0:30
• Good choice of angle and lighting 1:38
• Have actress expressing emotions of the song through facial expressions/body language 
• More lip syncing shots
• Use more effects such as cross dissolves

Magazine Ad First Drafts

This was my first attempt at creating my magazine advert, whilst I think it depicts the theme of nature well, I'm unsure as to whether the image of the tree is bold enough to represent and promote the  artist and the song. I edited the image in photoshop to give it a slightly blurred effect, and I played around with the brightness and contrast to really emphasise the autumn season. I quite liked the pale pink/cream font as it wasn't as bold as a colour such as black and white, and I felt it went well with the oranges and greens. However, I wasn't too sure on the font I had chosen as it seemed to rigid for the style I was aiming for, previous research of Gabrielle Aplin's style (Gabrielle Aplin's EP's) suggested her fonts are much more playful and personal, and I feel this font is too informative.






I think I prefer my second attempt to my first, as the image is much bolder as the location and the thick branches above the writing clearly represent the melancholic tone of the song. The black and white rustic effect connoted the themes well, as it's quite spooky yet in keeping with nature, thus represents the song 'Ghosts' well. I decided to change the font to give a slightly handwritten effect, highlighting the profundity and importance of the song.






Having made two attempts of making a magazine advert based around an image of a location, I wanted to see what it wold be like to use my actress as the main image for the article. I used the same effect yet a little lighter as I felt this connoted the themes well. I'm quite fond of the image of the artist I've used as I think the facial expression denotes her emotions well, whilst the location represents the themes of nature. I also liked this image as when the lyrics start in the music video it features the artist sitting in this position, thus making it iconic. Whilst I like the font I feel that it may be a bit dark for the image and difficult to notice, so I may need to have a few more attempts until I reach a final draft.

I hadn't planned to create a magazine advert like this, however when I came across the image I had an idea for it so I decided to see what the outcome would be. I particularly liked this location and it features quite a bit in my drafted music video so I've become quite attached to it. I feel that the image of the bridge connotes loneliness whilst the bundle of branches connotes confusion, which is what the song seems to depict. I was unsure of where to put the writing in order for it to be seen, so I decided to place it on the bridge in a white font to make it stand out. I think it may be a bit small as the image is quite a 'busy' image so it may need enlarging. However, I'm beginning to think that this font could be too playful, and a more structured font like the font used in the first digipak may be more beneficial to use.







At the moment I'm unsure of my favourite magazine advert, I'm going to gain some feedback from my audience and teacher in order to help me come to a conclusion.

Digipak First Drafts

  This is my first digipak design, I quite like the front cover image as by positioning the artist on the left side, the name and song can be clearly seen in the right hand corner. I wasn't too sure about the both of the left cover images and whether they look a bit random or if they're in keeping with the style - I'm going to gain audience/teacher feedback in order to improve. I stretched the image of the feet from the inside cover onto the back inside cover as I felt they linked in well. I managed to change the opacity of the image on the back inside cover, and change the colour of the CD to black in order to make it obvious where the CD would go.

This was my second attempt at the digipak, I used a similar style with a different set of images in order to gain a different perspective. The front cover image creates quite a spooky atmosphere, as the artist appears 'ghost-like' herself, this allowed the title to position well next the image of her. I feel as though this digipak had a less scary tone to it, as the it's images of clouds etc. 

I'm going to gain feedback to help me establish what design I want to use, however I may create some more digipaks using coloured images rather than black and white to see if they're more successful. 

Filming & Editing 19/02 - 20/02

As the snow had completely cleared by this date and the weather was looking much better I felt it was a suitable time to film. In this filming session my main priority was gaining lip syncing shots as having no lip syncing has been hindering the likeability of my video, causing it to be confusing and misunderstood. I feel this filming session went well as I was able to gain some lip syncing shots of particularly important lines in the song. However, a slight issue I came across was the brightness of the sun as in some shots it made my actress look very pale and denoted a summer season rather than a spring/autumn. To overcome this, if the sun was extremely bright I moved onto other shots that weren't facing towards the light, and filmed the previous shot when the weather was suitable.

Having edited my lip syncing shots into my video I'm beginning to feel more comfortable with my music video, as I've now been able to understand the importance of lip syncing in order to understand/connect with the artist/actress and the themes presented within the song. However, whilst I feel that I've gained a better understanding of the conventions of a music video, I think that more lip syncing shots would be beneficial, as I still feel like it could be lacking in something. Another improvement I feel I could make is gaining some more still shots of my actress, as for the time being I have reused shots in order to avoid any gaps. The lack of storyline appears to be a problem, as whilst I wanted to create a conceptual based video, I feel as though the conceptual idea isn't powerful enough to make my video successful. Thus, I may need to rethink the narrative of it, in order for it to make sense. Having finished the first draft of my music video, I'm going to gain feedback and advice from my teacher and peers, in order to have a successful and completed final draft.

Magazine Advert Research

I felt that my magazine advert research was quite limited, so I decided to do quite a broad research into how magazine advertising works, in order to give me some ideas. http://www.consterdine.com/articlefiles/42/HMAW5.pdf
I found this PDF file online 'How Magazine Advertising Works' which targets all types of magazine adverts and I've found it really useful. Here are some printscreens of what I found:

To do list

1. Tuesday 21st February - All practical work to be submitted for 'formative assessment'. You may be asked to make further edits after this.

Music Promo: Music Video, Digipack and Advertisement
2. Tuesday 13th March - First draft of Evaluation and all final edits made (as advised) to practical work.

3. Wednesday 28th March - Final draft of Evaluation (uploaded to blog), all practical work uploaded to blog and any gaps in research/planning filled.

I felt comfortable with these deadlines when we were first given them, however due to the recent mishaps in the weather I'm beginning to worry about the little time I have left. 

Whilst I feel that it's impossible to film in the snow as my music video is wholly outdoors and all of my shots denote autumn, I'm starting to think that some images of the snowy weather could be really effective for my digipak and magazine advertisement. As nature is a key theme for my product, if my music video denotes winter through my selection of shots, it may be beneficial for my digipak to denote winter through snowy images. I'm going to produce a range of shots in the weather at the moment to test out the images - I'm also wondering if a black and white effect would be good as well. 

To make sure I don't fall behind too much I'm going to put a lot of my focus into my digipak and magazine advertisement until the weather is suitable conditions to film in. However, if the weather doesn't improve soon I'm going to reshoot everything in the weather as it stands, as this will still connote the themes and ideas I'm wanting to portray. 

Snow 4/02

Due to the recent change in weather my filming has unfortunately come to a halt for the time being. I'm having to wait until the snow has gone before I can complete my filming, as I want to avoid any continuity errors in my product and I fear that even by carefully filming to avoid recording the snow, I will somehow have snow within my music video and I want to avoid this at all costs. I was considering re shooting the music video using the snowy weather as a new setting as it would clearly connote the nature theme I'm following, however the possibility of the snow melting quickly is vast, thus I don't want to risk losing a lot of footage. Whilst waiting for the weather to improve it will give me more time to improve my plan and think through my next steps, as well as this I can begin the designing of my digipak and hopefully obtain some pictures despite the weather.